


Eggs-tra company

by Nyxteria



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Caring, Eggs, Findings, Gen, Humor, Writing Exercise, for fun, parenting, practice, surprise, unexpected stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-24 01:21:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7487817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyxteria/pseuds/Nyxteria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikey finds something curious after they bust a Kraang facility and decides they should take care of them. And this is about how that goes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A curious find

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so here is my next exercise! It’s uhm.. another thing Mikey brings in and more silly word plays, cause I enjoy that. I had sooo many possibilities with this title and loads of ideas for it. But settled for this!

They had been on a mission, nothing out of the ordinary. Donnie had found another piece of Kraang-tech to analyse and they had added another busted base to the record.

They were all in a good mood, particularly Raph, Leo had finally conceded on doing this mission Raph’s way without complaining, which meant charging in and busting some bots, it was rare and Raph felt like this was the best day all week, no, best day all month!

“I think this day calls for some pizza!” He exclaimed and smiled his smugly ‘I-was-right-and-my-way-worked-exactly-like-we-needed-it-to.’ Smile.

“Yea alright… but remember we can’t always do it like that! There are... instances where it’s the way to go, and there are others, where it’s not, which are more common than-” Leo started to explain while Raph half-way tuned him out.

Donnie sighted, then realised Mikey was awfully quiet, considering he hadn’t even said anything when pizza was suggested.

“Mikey?” He turned around and looked.

“Guys? Where’s Mikey??” They all stopped and looked around.

 

\----------------------------------

 

Mikey stared with big eyes at his find, cradling it carefully in his arms. He needed to catch up with his brothers but didn’t want to go too fast either, his new found cargo was, after all, rather fragile.

After the place exploded he had seen something floating by in the water, must have been debris from the facility, it did however look rather odd for being junk. So he had sneaked off and jumped down to look closer while his brothers were distracted with their little celebratory victory.

Only to find they were eggs floating in the river.

Without wasting time he had immediately jumped to the rescue, and was now holding six medium sized eggs in his arms.

“Alright little guys! You’re all safe now, we just gotta get you back home and warm you up!” He said soothingly to them, he had no idea what they were, but he couldn’t care less. They were just harmless babies and needed caring for.

 

\-------------------------------------

 

“Mikey?!” They called, not daring to yell out too loudly.

“There he is..!” Donnie said and pointed towards the edge of the river. Mikey was walking slowly along the edge and seemed to move almost carefully, which was odd.

“Hey egg-head, whatcha doing??” Raph jumped down and landed by Mikey, but stopped when he saw what he was holding.

“What the..?”

“They are eggs!” Mikey said as his brothers came, curious about what exactly he had found.

“Where did ya find those..?”

“They came floating by! I think the nest was destroyed when we busted that Kraang base...” He said, a bit sullen and feeling guilty about what they had caused. Donnie sighted and put a hand on his shoulders.

“We couldn’t have known... So don’t blame yourself, okay? Besides, you saved them.” He pointed out. Which made Mikey feel slightly better about it.

“Right! We gotta get these back and take care of them!”

“You sure we shouldn’t just… find their parents?” Leo suggested, slightly hesitant about bringing something unknown into the lair.

“Actually the possibility of their parents rejecting them because we’ve touched them is pretty high, and we don’t even know what species they are yet.. Well they are probably some kind of water bird but... If we want them to survive the best thing to do would be to take care of them, at least until we know more…” Donnie countered with.

“Yea, we can’t abandon these! Where is your heart?!” Mikey said while looking at Leo and holding the eggs protectively, glad someone was on his side.

“I agree with Mikey on this one.” Raph stated and folded his arms.

“Well, if they aren’t staying for long and we just take care of them until they are fine on their own… I… suppose.. it’s alright…” Leo said uncertainly after some careful thinking. It would feel wrong to leave them, even if he wasn't sure they were up for the task either. It would be a huge responsibility.

“Alright, but you ain’t carrying them like that, you could drop them. Let’s put them in a basket with some cloth.” Raph suggested. They quickly spread out to find something to carry them in. Raph found a decent tote bag they cut up and reinforced with an old ice cream bucket, along with any fabric they could spare.

“There you go little guys~!” Mikey practically beamed as he carefully held them as they made their way back home in a lot slower pace than usual.


	2. Getting set up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so they take up the task and starts the necessary preparations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story might be a bit shorter than my last one, but it's gonna be some chapters to it at least! Same thing as with my other one, all practice and for fun, tell if you find something odd or off. I hope you enjoy it!

The eggs rested in a makeshift nest they had put together of pillows and other things the brothers had found once they were home.

“Shouldn’t we like... that thing chickens do… Brood on them or something? They need to be warm, right?” Mikey suggested while he put another pillow up on the side.

“No, we’re turtles, not chickens. We don’t brood, that’s birds and they have feathers, we’d just crush the eggs with our shells. Besides it wouldn’t warm them up!” Donnie reprimanded quickly before Mikey got the idea to try.

“What they need is some warmth and soft surroundings so they don’t break.” He huffed as he carried a heater down to the pillow pile.

“We’ll place this close by to keep them warm, I’ll try make something more convenient after I’ve done some research, but this will do for the moment.” He sighted in relief as the heater was carefully placed down, it wasn’t their most portable one.

“Alright, there. We don’t want it to be too close, too much heat isn’t good either.”

“I can’t believe we’re doing this… but it’s also kind of exciting!” Leo couldn’t help but point out while he helped with the nest.

“Yea, but what are we gonna feed em? Worms?” 

“Well… we have to determine their species first, but most birds eat worms... There is no guaranty that they will hatch either, but we can try. Well, if you excuse me I have a lot of reading to do.” Donnie said as he took a picture of the eggs and then went into the lab with his laptop to do some research.

Mikey sighted happily and placed himself on his stomach, dangling with his legs in the air and looked at the eggs.

“You guys are gonna love it here, I hope you like pizza, I can make you some when you hatch!”

Raph sighted. “Not sure about the pizza but sure, would be fun if we could teach them some tricks!”

They stared at the eggs silently for a while, not really sure what to do next.

“What’s taking so long? We gotta make sure they are okay. I dunno how to do that!” Mikey complained, he had been checking on them every 3 or so minutes, but all he could tell was they didn’t have any external damage. He sighted and sat back down on the floor in front of the next.

“I got it!” Donnie jumped out of the lab in a hurry.

“I think they are some kind of duck, it’s a bit tricky because quite a few of some species eggs were rather similar… But I’ve narrowed it down. They are hard to hatch and require a lot of work due to their requirements… Well, the sewers are sort of humid but… I’ll get started on an incubator. I’ll show you guys what to do in the meantime.”

“Alright! Booya!” Mikey cheered at finally having something to do.

Since they had no idea what stage they were in, the first thing they did was to candle them to see if they were even alive. They shut off all lights and carefully brought a light to one egg at a time.

“See? If they are golden, they are duds, but if they are alive, you should be able to see veins or a heart depending on what stage they are in...” Donnie explained as he put the light to the egg.

“Oh.”

“That’s suppose to be veins? Looks more like a whole chick to me” Raph eyed the egg curiously, it was kind of exciting to see the little thing inside it.

“Woah dude, they are pretty far along, aren’t they?” Mikey said as he stared at the lit up egg, there was clearly something there, and it wasn’t just veins.

“That should make things easier, no need to take care of them for a full month. They still got some way to go though… Okay so they need humidity, warmth but not too warm, and they also needs turning, they recommended 3 times a day on a page I found. We could spray them with some water once in a while… But we need to stop turning them once they are a few days from hatching which should be…” Donnie stated before Raph put his hand around his mouth.

“Okay alright, slow down on the info. That’s a lot to do right? So who does what?” Raph said as he looked at the eggs and let go of his brother, who gave him a slight glare.

“I need to make that incubator as soon as I can, someone turn the eggs and another does the spray, turn 3 times a day and spray to keep them moist, okay?” Donnie said and rushed off in haste to get started. He was kind of excited to have a new project going, though he also really wanted to get started on that Kraang tech… But the eggs needed an incubator pronto so it had to take priority for the time being.

“Sweet I’ll turn them then! I’ll be reeeaally careful!” Mikey cheered.

“Fine, I’ll grab a spray bottle.” Raph said. 

Which left Leo sitting and wondering about what he should do, he looked at the eggs and then at the lab. He decided to go try see if Donnie needed some assistance.

Leo’s idea of trying to be useful to help the eggs ended up doing no better than a table would have done.

“Screwdriver.” Donnie reached out his hand towards Leo, who sighted and handed it over. Don made a grunt and gave it back.

“The other screwdriver.” Leo changed it out for the other one. Okay maybe worse than a table. He had asked to help out somehow but when there was nothing else to do he had pleaded to help Donnie build the incubator.

The intention was good but he had failed at everything his brother had asked him to do and was now downgraded to handing over tools. He sighted again.

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to you know, you could help Mikey watch the eggs.” Donnie suggested as his brother sighted for the fourth time, obviously bored.

“No, it’s alright… I’m just... thinking about what we’ll do when patrol comes around tomorrow.” If he wasn’t of use on the more practical things at least he could be on the planning of things and how to manage the time, as they still had other duties than take care of these eggs.

“Well… we probably shouldn’t leave them without supervision.”

“That’s what I was thinking about…”

“We could ask Splinter to watch them?” Donnie suggested as he worked, kind of listening but mostly focused on what was in front of him.

“Well, I suppose but we haven’t even told him about them yet…” Leo said hesitantly.

“You can tell him when his meditation is over and ask if he approves?”

“It’s just… we brought them in, so they are technically our responsibility… I think he would say something like that. Maybe someone should stay behind? We could take turns.” 

“Hm, I suppose.” Donnie said, twisting his screwdriver and examining his progress, Leo wasn’t sure he had heard properly.

 

\--------------------------------------

 

A while later he decided he’d have a chat with their father about their recent discovery and what they were doing. He seemed to have expected him. Leo explained what had happened and that they felt the right thing to do was take them home and look after them, just so they’d be able to take care of themselves.

Splinter nodded in understanding. “I see.. This will be a huge responsibility…” He knew it, he just knew Splinter would say that..

“But I believe you may be up to the task, it could be a valuable lesson for you all.” Okay. That part was less expected.

“So… You think we can do it?”

“Perhaps, but remember, you may not neglect what you have decided to be responsible for, a life is precious and it is not something you can put aside because you grow tired or want to do something else. Is this clear?” He said with a more serious tone, Leo stiffened up and after some careful thought nodded.

“Hai. We’ll do our best.” 

“That is for your brothers to answer for themselves, you cannot answer for them. I believe this new responsibility is best shared among you, to help keep you all going.” He eyed Leonardo and stroked his beard.

“Just make sure you all know what you are all getting into.” He said as a final warning, then smiled.

“I’m sure you will do fine, my son.” Leo sighted a little in relief.

“I’ll be sure to tell them..! I mean.. Hai! Thank you, father.” He bowed and went to share what Splinter had just said. He was sure they’d all have this talk with him on several occasions, but it didn’t hurt to make sure his siblings were taking this seriously.

Once they were all set up and ready to go Don carefully moved the eggs to the incubator after a few tests to make sure it was running alright.

“Okay, there we go. Now. This is important so pay attention. This shows humidity levels, they need to be here, if they are low, spray some water through here.” Don pointed as he explained.

“And this is the temperature, I’ve set it to what’s recommended, so just make sure it stays there. The eggs needs to be turned an odd number of times a day, so three should be good. The hatching will take several days and they shouldn’t be turned from the moment they get into the air sac.”

“Wait how will we know when they do?” Leo looked a little unsure.

“They will start make sounds and pick at the shell.” Donnie shortly explained.

“Now, it can take a few days from that stage until they are out, so we should keep interference to a minimum, if they need help we’ll get to that then. They should not be moved and stay for twelve hours when hatched, this is because they need to complete the yolk absorption process.”

“The what now?” 

Donnie sighted. “Just don’t move them and let them be for half a day after they hatch, okay? We can go through more about it when it’s time.” He decided there wasn’t any point in discussing further than this until it was time.

“Now there are a few things we still need to do before all of that, they need aquatic plants, so I suggest we start growing some in the pool, a few of them should be able to survive down here.. With a bit of help. And we need to get a heating lamp... We need to ask April to get some bulbs for that. We also need to make them a safe place where they can learn swimming and take baths, the sewer pool will be too risky when they are small.”

As they listed what they needed they wrote down a shopping list for April so she could get what they needed to buy. Then they made some research and planned a trip to go get some plants they might be able to grow down there. At least they had plenty of algae.

Splinter smiled as he watched his sons get all worked up about taking care of these eggs, if anything they’d learn what it was like to be responsible for another life, a valuable lesson.

Now all they could do was keep checking on them, prepare and wait.


	3. Egg-duty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They deal with juggling patrols and taking care of Mikey's find.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! It was a rainy day, so I had nothing else to do. We're at our summer place, really nice by the ocean and all, but when it rains.. nothing to do. We were gonna watch a movie but turns out the TV wasn't co-operating when we didn't have the right cable. We seriously tried every available option but couldn't get around the fact we needed that darn cable. So I wrote instead!

Mikey checked on the incubator for the 10th time that evening. Everything seemed to be as it should, it was almost time to turn them again as well. He looked excitedly at them.

“I can’t wait for you guys to come out!” He said happily.

“I’ve noticed.” Donnie mumbled from his project, trying to figure out what exactly he had taken from the Kraang facility by scanning it.

They had placed the incubator in Donnie’s lab since he had a back-up generator installed there, so if they had a blackout his lab would keep running for a while longer. Their back-up for the lair itself had been damaged accidentally, and it was one of the many things on Donnie’s to-do-list, now he wished he’d gotten around to it sooner, or the others wouldn’t spend so much time in his lab.

Mikey looked at the eggs and sighted, glanced at the clock, one minute left.

“Aaalmost time…” 

“You know it only feels slower if you’re gonna sit there and count the seconds.” Donnie pointed out, determining whatever he had taken didn’t seem volatile or dangerous.

“Buuut I don’t wanna miss the timing!” Mikey stuck out his tongue towards Don, he didn’t seem to notice.

“It doesn’t have to be that exact.” Donnie said as he waited for the scan, not really bothering looking in Mikey’s direction.

“Now!” Mikey jumped up, carefully opened the lid and with great care turned each egg, then he sprayed a little water and put the lid back on.

“There you go little guys, sleep well~” He beamed at them, then got an idea.

“I got it!” He rushed off, Don sighted and wondered what idea he’d gotten into his head now.

Mikey came back later with one of their childhood books, one Splinter had found years ago and used to read to them as kids, it was well worn out but still held together. He made himself comfortable by the incubator and started to read a story to them.

Donnie rolled his eyes a little, but let his brother have his fun, it didn’t hurt and made Mikey happy. He simply tuned him out and kept working.

\------------------------------------------------

Raph fidgeted a little as he sat in the sofa, Splinter had a talk with all of them over dinner about the new responsibility, and he knew a lot about it already. He did look after Spike at one point after all, but it was still nerve-racking, Spike hadn’t started out as a fragile egg in his care who might have or might not have hatched. It felt like they could too easily fail, and it bothered him, it would be unfair if they didn’t hatch and it would be all their fault.

Leo sighted. “Okay, what’s bothering you?” 

“Nothin’”

“I know it’s not nothing, you’re usually restless like that when something is bothering you.” He huffed.

“I said it is nothin’!” Raph raised his voice slightly in annoyance. Leo looked at him quizzically.

“Is this about what Splinter said?” He eyed his brother. “Are you having second thoughts about this?”

“Heck no! I ain’t backing out if that’s what you think..!” Raph growled back. “It’s just… it would be unfair if they didn’t… hatch is all.” He mumbled.

“Sorry what was that..?” 

“You heard me!” Raph got up and decided to punch his worries away.

Leo looked at his frustrated brother for a while, then spotted Donnie walking out of the lab. He waved at him. “Hey! Anything new?” 

“Hrm no, not yet..” Don sighted.

“Well, I was thinking we could talk about patrol which we need to do soon and…” Leo was interrupted by Donnie’s groan.

“Do we really need to do this now?”

“Wait hear me out! I think this is a good compromise. We need to watch the eggs, someone’s gotta stay behind and do that. So… I was thinking since you probably want to work on… whatever it is you’re doing-“ 

“Scanning the Kraang device?”

“Yea that. Maybe you could stay behind, do that and keep an eye on them while we patrol..?” Leo smiled a little and hoped it was a good enough temptation to make Donnie consider it. Raph would be too restless to sit and keep an eye on the eggs, Mikey would probably do it but… he wasn’t so sure he would be able to keep his concentration and get bored.

Donnie eyed him suspiciously.

“Of course it’s only this time, we will take turns.” Leo quickly added. To make sure his brother didn’t think he was going to dump the task on him every time while they went out and ran about. As much as Donnie enjoyed his projects, he also enjoyed being up on the surface.

“… Fine, I need to get a few things repaired anyway… I’m not doing it next time though, as you said, we take turns.” He said firmly. Leo nodded.

“That’s fair.” Leo smiled and was content that tonight’s patrol was solved.

 

\------------------------------

 

To his brothers’ credit, once the time rolled around for Raph and then Mikey to watch them, they did a good job and managed without any issues. He was surprised but relieved as it turns out he didn’t need to worry.

Leo looked his gear over and was ready to go out, then he heard his brothers cheering and seemed to start running off.

“What’s going on?” He looked at them confused.

“We’re off to patrol! We thought we might do some skating while we’re at it!” Mikey cheered.

“Yea I know that, wait what? That’s not included in patrol.” He was about to go after them when Donnie put a hand on his shoulders, smiling.

“You watch the eggs, okay? Remember to check the temperature often and turn them once.”

“Eh? Wait what? But... I am the leader, you can’t go without me...” He realised then that he had forgotten himself when Donnie had first stated we all take turns and he had agreed.

“Sorry Leo, but you said it yourself, we all take turns! Ciao!” Raph waved at him with a big grin and went off on his skateboard.

“But…” He watched his brothers go, it irked him, but they did have a point. That, however, didn’t stop him from worrying about what could go wrong with them running around without him directing them. He also realised with horror this was going to happen every fourth night. Maybe they should ask April to help out once in a while..? If she had the time.

Just as he thought about that April appeared by the turnstiles.

“Hello? Anyone in?” She looked around.

“Here!” Leo shouted back and walked up to her. “I was just thinking about asking you something and you just appeared! What are you, psychic?” Leo said, surprised she had actually appeared when he thought about her.

“Uhm… Yea? But that’s not the reason why I’m here.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Where is everyone? I thought I’d catch you just before patrol but…” 

“Oh, right. They already went… I’m on egg-duty.”

“Right, about that. I managed to get a few things on the list, I couldn’t come until now cause we’ve had this crazy test in school and I’ve been buried in schoolwork!” She said and held out the bag of supplies.

“I added a few other things you might like as well, while I was at it. So... how’s the duck sitting going?”

“It’s okay I guess, wanna see?”

“Sure!” April followed him along towards Don’s lab and the incubator.

A few hours later he could hear the others walk in. Raph stretched out and seemed content.

“I could get used to this! Patrol without all the nagging and what to do!”

“Well you seem to have had fun.” Leo stated, unamused.

“Well, we did. Got a problem with that?” Raph glared back.

“No, I don’t.” He said shortly, not really feeling like picking a fight over it. Then he saw a blurr of green running towards them.  
“My little babies!” Mikey rushed past them and off towards the lab.

Donatello came not far behind.

“Well, Mikey’s been wanting to go back and check on them for the past half hour… I’m never getting peace and quiet in my lab again…”

“Tomorrow you can.” Leo said, happy he wasn’t up next on egg-duty, not that he didn’t take it seriously, but they all had to admit, egg-duty was less fun than patrol.

 

\------------------------------------

 

Donatello’s peace and quiet the following evening wasn’t exactly what happened though.  
Leo looked down towards the street, nothing unusual, New York had been quiet for a while now. Apparently his brothers did stop the purple dragons from doing some robbery last night, but otherwise it wasn’t much to do.

Mikey sighted. “Maybe we can go home then? Ya know, eat some snacks... the ones that April bought… watch a movie… check on the eggs-“ He grew quiet though as Leo held up a hand, they all froze. Something was watching them.

“… Spread out.” Leo instructed and they all went into hiding, he looked around carefully but couldn’t see anything, until he saw Karai a few buildings away, slithering down a fire escape.

“!” He rushed forward.

“Karai..!” The others followed him quickly looking round.

“You sure brah? I didn’t see anything..?” Mikey looked around curiously. Leo was about to answer that when his phone went off. He sighted.

“.. Hello? Donnie? What’s up?”

“The eggs are hatching, they’re at stage one though so no need to-”

“Wait what?” He heard Donnie make an audible sight on the other end.

“Oh, I dunno, thought you might want to know.” He said slightly sarcastically. “I said they are hatching.” He clarified when Leo didn’t seem to respond quickly enough.

Before Leo could even relay what Don had said Mikey was already bolting for home, he had listened in on the conversation and wasn’t going to waste any more time than necessary. Raph followed close behind.

“Okay we’re coming.” He hung up before Donnie could say anything else.


	4. Hatching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The eggs finally hatch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another chapter! It's a bit shorter than the others, but I hope you like it anyway! Tomorrow's my birthday and after that I'm going to an event for 5 days, so I decided to post it now. Cause I won't have time until next week otherwise!

Donatello sighted as his siblings tumbled in one by one.

“I TOLD you it was stage one, no need to rush home.”

“You said they were hatching.” Leo countered with.

“Well they are… But you didn’t let me finish talking. Besides I already told you guys, the hatching part takes two to three days.” He rubbed his forehead and sat down in his chair while Mikey was slightly disappointed he wasn’t going to see them out today.

“Aww.. man.. I wish they’d come out now...”

“Well, they will, later. You just need to be patient is all.” Raph gave Mikey a pat on the back.

“You know, if you’re quiet and listen, you can hear them picking at the shell and cheeping, just so you know.” Donnie pointed out, which made Mikey a lot happier, he quickly sat by the incubator and pressed the side of his head towards it, listening intently.

“Hey... you’re right!” he spent the next hours or so doing just that until he grew too tired.

They decided to keep a close eye on them now and no one really wanted to mess it up. Would be a bummer after all the trouble they’d gone through.

 

\------------------------------

 

Two days later Raph groaned. “This is so boring! Why aren’t they just coming? I wanna go on patrol already..!” At first he thought it made sense to stay home and keep an eye on them to make sure nothing was wrong, but to have all four of them do so and not going out or do anything else was just boring and crowding his space. 

“I’m going out!” He got up and moved, just as he was about to exit the lair Mikey poked out of the lab and shrieked excitedly.

“I can see a beak and feet! They are hatching! They’re hatching!!” Don showed up and clamped his hand over Mikey’s mouth.

“Not so loud! And they have been hatching for the past two days already, they just breached the outer layer so we can actually see that something is happening. …. It’s important to be accurate.” He added when he saw the looks they were giving him.

Leo groaned. “Not now Donnie.” But he was still really excited and quickly joined Raph and the rest to see them, they huddled close around the incubator and watched as the little lives slowly made it out of the shells.

They all grinned widely as they saw the cute little ducklings start breaking free.

“Aww... They are adorable! Hey there little guys...” Mikey cooed at them as one of them seemed to rest as it looked curiously up towards them.

“Yea, even more than you claim to be Mikey, just not as annoying.” Raph said in a teasing tone.

“Okay, we need to keep the tone down, it’s important that they rest and don’t get startled.” Don said before an argument could break loose, Leo nodded in agreement.

“They are really cute though…” Leo smiled down at them, one of them just poked out of the shell and looked up at him, cheeping. It was yellow with some black spots here and there, a large spot over one side of its skull.

“Aww... soo cute..” He kinda wanted to try pet it, but Don said not to touch them for the first 12 hours… He sighted a little. “I suppose we should give them some space..?” 

“Yea, as soon as we make sure they’ve all hatched safely and no one needs help.” Don stated.

 

\-------------------------------

 

They all looked concerned at the last remaining egg, it had been hours and it showed no signs of breaking the outer layer. Mikey swiveled around on the chair and whined. “What’s taking it so loooong?”

“I don’t know.” Don said, slightly annoyed, Raph and Leo had decided to make some space and leave the lab for a little while to get some food and keep things calm. Don wasn’t sure them making dinner was the best choice, but Mikey didn’t want to leave until he was sure they were all fine.

Don carefully opened up the incubator, careful not to disturb the other resting ducklings, they were exhausted and most of them were sleeping. He listened in carefully on the egg, he could hear some faint cheeping, but that was it. He frowned. “I think I’m gonna help it, can you bring me a needle and a warm towel?”

Mikey shot up. “Wasn’t that really risky??” He said worriedly as he fetched the items and handed them over.

“Yea, the death rate is really high, but it might be too tired and need help, also, if we wait too long it won’t have enough air.” *He checked it over carefully and positioned the needle where he thought it would be best to make a hole. He swallowed nervously before putting some pressure on it, carefully making a breathing hole.

“Oh my shell...” Mikey whispered and stared as Don worked, his worry obvious as he watched his brother carefully take the egg out and onto his lap with the towel.

“Okay...” He grabbed a dropper with water and a pair of tweezers, taking a deep breath he started to work. Slowly removing a bit of the shell around the egg with the tweezers just like the duckling would have done, making sure to add a bit of water so the membrane wouldn’t dry out.

“….” Mikey stared nervously as Donatello worked with concentration etched across his face.

**Author's Note:**

> And that was the start of this story! It's a pretty quick intro but it's pretty basic and well.. yea I'm writing this solely on a single mental picture I got and from there came this idea. I wanted to try write it! It's my second exercise and I hope I am slowly improving somewhere along the line! My main line of artistic skills lies in drawing and sculpting, not writing, so this is still really new to me. I might actually draw up that single mental picture sometime later, we'll see!


End file.
